SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATIVE MANUAL

PURPOSE:

To identify policies and procedures related to the County's Employee Suggestion Program.

POLICY:

1. The Employee Suggestion Program is intended to encourage employees to share ideas to improve county government and to show public appreciation for and grant special recognition to certain employees for suggestions to improve County operations.
   
   
2. Criteria for recognition will include:
   
   
   1. An employee or group of employees whose suggestion solve(s) an extraordinary problem for the County, and in so doing, reduces costs of County operations, or generates revenue.
      
      
   2. Department heads, assistant department heads and executive managers who have delegated authority over the area of suggestion are not eligible for this program.
      

3. Review of suggestions will be made by the department head(s) impacted by the suggestion and their staff. Their review will be sent to a committee consisting of the County Administrative Officer, and the chairs of the employee awards committees in the Health, Human Services, Law and Justice, Land Use and Regulatory and General Government categories. The committee will meet during the month of January to rank the nominees. One award winner will be determined by the last week in January of each year.
   
   
4. The CAO will publicly present the recommended award winner to the Board of Supervisors at a Board meeting in February.
   
   
   1. The Chairperson of the Board will present resolutions to each employee or group along with their individual awards.
      
      
   2. Up to three monetary awards will be given in the amount of $300.
      

5. Monies for these awards are budgeted in the Personnel Department budget. Staff support for this program is provided by the Training Unit of the Personnel Department.
   

PROCEDURE:

1. Employees will submit suggestions on the Employee Suggestion Program Forms (PER2125) which are available through OPRI or through the Personnel Department. Forms are submitted to the County Administrative Office for distribution to the impacted department head(s) for review. 
   
   
2. A review of the suggestion is conducted by the department head(s) and their staff and an Employee Suggestion Program Evaluation Report (PER2126) is completed and returned to the County Administrative Office. Copies of the Evaluation Report are forwarded to the Personnel Department Training Unit after review by the County Administrative Officer.
   
   
3. Training Unit staff in the Personnel Department will compile suggestions on or before November 15th of each year.
   
   
4. Training Unit staff will collate suggestions by departmental category group.
   
   
5. The CAO will convene the selection committee members, who will meet during the month of January of each year to review and rank nominations.
   
   
6. Training Unit staff in the Personnel Department will prepare blue claims for the award.
   
   
7. The Personnel Director will prepare a Board letter for a Board meeting in February for the presentation of the awards.